


神隠し (Kamikakushi)

by fingerlick (bluedreaming), kaithartic (bluedreaming)



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-27
Updated: 2015-01-27
Packaged: 2018-03-09 08:06:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3242387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluedreaming/pseuds/fingerlick, https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluedreaming/pseuds/kaithartic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Junmyeon's parents have always warned him not to go out to the beach but one night he goes anyway.</p>
            </blockquote>





	神隠し (Kamikakushi)

**Author's Note:**

> **Warnings:** a/b/o (modified), underage (both characters kind of), kind-of-not-really age gap, major character death (in the past - it's not present characters!), mpreg (in the past), lightning powers used for smut purposes, general weirdness, one-dimensional parents  
> 

**Title:** 神隠し (Kamikakushi)  
**Pairing:** Jongdae/Junmyeon  
**Rating:** R  
**Length:** 10986 words  
**Warnings:** a/b/o (modified), underage (both characters kind of), kind-of-not-really age gap, major character death (in the past - it's not present characters!), mpreg (in the past), lightning powers used for smut purposes, general weirdness, one-dimensional parents  
**Author's Note:** The first rule about Fight Club is you don’t talk about Fight Club.  


 

_Be careful of the curse that falls on [your] lovers, starts so soft and sweet..._ ~ Florence + the Machine, Howl

 

Junmyeon knew he wasn't allowed to go out to the beach at night. In fact he wasn't allowed to go out at night alone at all, and he had never been to the beach in his entire 16 years of life, which he considered grossly unfair because, living in a small village like he did, houses perched on the rocky cliffs practically bordering the ocean, the beach was the only place of any importance. He always thought about the beach longingly, ever since hearing his Mom's stories about being young and hanging out there with her friends, building bonfires and collecting sea shells to take back to her room — sometimes she'd bring them out and Junmyeon would admire the smooth silky insides, letting his fingers run over the textured outside. He didn't have any friends, didn't take the bus to go to school in town because his parents had decided to homeschool him for reasons they had never properly explained.

"Please can I go to the beach?" Junmyeon asked for the umpteenth time that evening at the supper table. He'd always wanted to go but lately the feeling was getting stronger. _I need to go_ , he would have said, except he knew that it wouldn't sit well with his parents. His Mom set down her soup spoon and the sound of metal on the porcelain plate was sharp in the fluorescent overhead light.

"I'm sorry dear but you can't." Her face in the cool light looked strangely old and sad for a moment, before reverting to the Mom he knew so well. "Please stop asking." He didn't even bother to turn toward his Dad, because he already knew what his face would look like: worried but disapproving. _I must be such a disappointment but you won't even tell me why._ The sound of a moth hitting the window outside, a dull _tink, tink, tink_ , trying to get into the friendly light of the kitchen, punctuated the sentiment. The moth was never going to be able to get in and he was never going to be able to get out.

For the first time in 16 years, instead of dipping his spoon back into his soup and pretending that he wasn't sad and lonely sometimes, even if his Mom tried to take him places and find fun ways for him to do his lessons and connect him to pen pals all over the world, Junmyeon let his spoon clatter to the table, pushing his chair away with a sliding scratch as the wood legs scraped over the tiles and he stood up.

"Thanks for the meal." He didn't look back to check his parents' expressions, just quietly walking to his room and letting the door fall closed, and if the window was open and slammed the door just a little as it closed, well that was okay. The sound soothed a tiny piece of the whirling mess in his chest that had started growing on his 16th birthday. _I'm starting to not understand myself anymore._ He flung himself down onto his bed, the smooth fabric of his comforter soft against his cheek as he tried not to think about _anything_ but only thought of the beach instead.

 

_IX  
In which the god of lightning brings ruin with his pain_

 

 

_Upon the death of his beloved, the lightning god Chen was filled with such rage and sadness that, though he endeavoured to keep himself in check after taking the body of of his precious one and burying it in the soft ground of a secret island, undisturbed by people or animals, he could not. A great storm of lightning and thunder raged for many days, the lightning strikes causing many fires and much damage and the accompanying wind and waves capsizing many boats._

_But Chen only retreated into the deepest recesses of his palace and mourned his lover, swearing he would never love again, only to once again succumb to the call of a new beloved, the cursed cycle beginning anew._

_And there arose among the people of the village the tragic myth of the cursed lightning god and his beloved, the story hanging especially over the chosen family. It was the only one left in the village which still lay under the fate of the kamikakushi, the spiriting away, for it was known that they corresponded directly to the worship of the god of lightning._

 

He woke up to the sound of thunder, a flash of lightning illuminating his room, but there was no rain. _This has been such a strange summer._ The air felt thick and musty in his room so Junmyeon crept out of bed in the dark and padded over to the window to open it and let in some air, even though he knew he was supposed to turn on the air conditioning if he was too warm. He felt strange, like he was only half awake, his eyes still seeing storms and rain and something else he couldn't quite remember. Sliding back into bed, he tossed and turned, the sheets sweaty and sticky on his skin and even though there was nothing different, everything was exactly the same as it had always been, he felt like he was slowly suffocating in his room, in his house, in the small life where he circled endlessly, holding patterns growing smaller like a noose sliding shut.

His eye fell on a seashell on the nightstand, one that his Mom had let him take from her private stash of ocean things — usually Junmyeon could remind himself that, though he wasn't allowed to go to the beach, his parents didn't go either, despite the fact that he knew his Mom loved the ocean a lot. _I just don't understand._ Tonight, nothing made sense and he couldn't reason with himself; he tucked the shell in his pocket and climbed out of his window like the children in books he read to use up the long hours.

Climbing out of the window wasn't as easy as it sounded in books; he scraped his knee on the stone wall of his house, got a sliver in his finger from the window frame and banged his elbow, moaning as quietly as he could as he lost his grip and fell onto the gravel beneath his window. It hurt. 

Dusting himself off as best he could, tiny dots of red standing out on the palms of his scraped hands, he set off for the beach, along the winding sand road. The night was warm and the sand beneath his feet was soft; he didn't regret not wearing shoes. The road wound back and forth along the edge of the cliff; looking over at the waves for the first time felt so strange. The moon was bright and the way the light reflected on the water felt like a strange kind of déjà vu. _Except I know I haven't seen it before._ When Junmyeon left the house with one or both of his parents, they always took the car and drove in the other direction, cold grey pavement towards town and the world inland, fields and trees and houses. Everything was different now.

_And I'm outside, alone, for the first time in my life._

He was almost sorry to finally descend to the level of the beach, the last incline almost sending him sliding down to the soft waves of white sand washing down to meet the waves, but once he stood there, drinking in the beauty of the waves and the sand and huge expanse of sky and moon and ocean stretching on for eternities, as far as his eyes could reach, bracketed only by the cliffs to either side, he was so happy he could feel his heart racing in his chest. Junmyeon didn't know what to do first, there was so _much_ , but he started by rushing towards the edge to dip his feet into the water, the feeling of salt water lapping at his toes so new, so unexpected, so visceral that shivers ran up and down his spine and he had to stretch out his arms to the sky to let the feeling escape through his fingers.

Then he ran back into the sand, toes exploring the strange feeling as he let his gaze dart along the white waves and search for seashells. There were so many pretty ones, and soon the pockets of his sleep shorts were full but he didn't want to stop; somehow Junmyeon felt like this might be the only time he'd be able to sneak outside and he was going to make the most of it. _I have to come back. I have to._

A sudden flash in the corner of his eye caught his attention; when he turned to look it was a shooting star. He'd never seen one before. Junmyeon thought about the books he'd read and the people he'd read about, people with dreams and exciting lives and so many possibilities stretching out in front of them like — well like the sand and ocean and stars stretching out before him now. He closed his eyes and made a wish. _Please let me be able to come back here forever._

When he opened his eyes again, taking a deep breath and steeling himself to go back home, he was shocked to see that he wasn't alone.

There was a boy about his age standing in the sand a little ways away from where Junmyeon was standing. His eyes shone in the dark.

Junmyeon staggered back a step in surprise; his foot slid sideways and he gave a short pained yelp as his ankle twisted and he braced himself for a fall — even though it was sand there were still rocks and shells and he knew instinctually that it was going to hurt. But he never fell; all of a sudden the boy was holding him up, an arm around his waist, and Junmyeon felt so _safe_. It was so strange that after a frozen moment, his eyes staring into the other boy's illuminated ones, he straightened out of the boy's arms and stepped back. 

The boy didn't seem at all perturbed. "Hi," he said, and his voice was like magic in the moonlight, "I'm Jongdae."

Junmyeon didn't know what to say, also it didn't help that he'd literally never met anyone before without being introduced by a parent. "Hi?" he said, and if it sounded more like a question than a greeting the boy didn't seem to mind. "I'm...I'm Junmyeon." The boy nodded firmly, as though he was memorizing the name by heart. For a split second Junmyeon knew for sure that he was, and then the moment ended and he was just confused and slightly chilly, there on the beach in his sleep shorts and t-shirt, pockets weighed down with sea shells. "Sorry," he said awkwardly, "but I have to go?" He mentally chastised himself for sounding like such a baby but the boy only smiled and nodded and motioned for him to go.

Junmyeon looked back several times as he walked back up the beach road, the sand cool by now between his toes, but every time the boy was still standing there, waving, and Junmyeon knew that he had to go back.

It was only when he'd managed to slip back into his room, somehow scraping his chest and tearing a hole in his sleep t-shirt and probably losing some seashells in the gravel beneath his window, _I really hope Mom doesn't notice because how am I going to explain that?_ that he realized how safe he'd felt with the strange boy. Junmyeon might have been sometimes slightly resentful of the fact that his parents kept him so cooped up in the house when he could have had friends and gone on adventures by himself to the library or something, but he'd never doubted the fact that he'd felt safe at home. But after the feeling that that flooded through his chest at the warm touch of the boy's arm, even through a layer of fabric, the way the boy had looked at him, and watched to see him walk away through the dark back up the beach road, Junmyeon realized that he'd never felt safe at home. Not like _that_.

He fell asleep trying to figure it out.

 

_VIII  
In which the beloved of the god of lightning passes from the world_

 

_However, the joyful dream soon turned into the worst nightmare imaginable as Suho, now heavy with child, lay in the softest bed, pain distorting his gentle face as his body writhed with contractions that could end in nothing, result in nothing, because the baby had no way to come out. Chen raged against heaven, called upon the god of the wind who had cursed him and his beloved to such a cruel fate, but there was no response. The heavens were silent. Voice thick with pain, trapped in an endless torment from which only death could set him free, Suho yet called out to Chen, bidding him come over so that he might speak with him one last time._

_"Do not despair," he said, though he was nearly spent, the baby long gone still to Chen's utter desolation and despair. "Thou must promise to love again."_

_"But I do not wish to end up like this!" Chen railed against their fate. "If I had known this would happen to thee, I would not have caused this for all the wishes in heaven!"_

_"And that is where thy reasoning is faulty," Suho said, "for despite the fact that I know I must soon perish, I regret nothing, not a second spent with thee. For I love thee." And he smiled, before he died, a soft exhalation leaving his lungs as the pain was smoothed from his face, the koi fish rising from the waters surrounding the palace to join in a song of mourning._

 

 

 

Junmyeon woke up to the sound of his phone alarm vibrating the bed by his pillow and blinked blearily at the screen before remembering what it was for and sitting up with a start. _That's right, I have to get rid of the evidence._ He turned off the alarm and quickly rushed over to the window, relieved to not see any shells littering the gravel after all because climbing out the window in the middle of the night was one thing, but getting caught on the windowsill early in the morning was ten times more likely and would definitely raise speculation.

Luckily saved from that risk, he instead busied himself with hiding the shells he'd sleepily dumped on a pile on his bedroom floor before sipping into bed, sweeping them up with his hands into a shoebox and sliding it behind his wardrobe. His sleep shorts and t-shirt he dusted off as well as he could, but his feet were unfortunately dirty and there was still red dotting his palms. He slipped off for a shower before breakfast and when his Dad asked why he was up so early, he just replied that it had been really warm and he'd had trouble sleeping.

"We've been thinking," his Dad said, exchanging nervous glances with his Mom, "that now that you're sixteen, maybe it's time for you to have a chance to stretch your wings a bit, meet new people..." His parents looked at Junmyeon carefully and Junmyeon couldn't believe it. Was he finally going to be allowed to do even a few of the things that he so desperately wanted to do?

"We thought that, since it's July, we could send you to a summer camp in the mountains," his Mom explained, looking at him with an expectant smile on her face as Junmyeon tried not to let his face fall.

"Actually," he said, and he couldn't help it if he didn't sound as careless as he wanted to, "is it okay if I stay here?" He smiled, or tried to, the stretching of his mouth across his face felt like lying and he was sure his parents would be able to see through him but somehow they didn't, once again exchanging worried glances that he didn't understand but nodding slowly as he picked up another slice of toast from the stack and tried to distract himself by carefully spreading on the Nutella, not getting any over the sides but at the same time covering the entire surface. _Please don't make me leave, please don't make me leave right now._

"Alright dear," his Mom said, and Junmyeon could hear the smile in her voice before he looked up, eyes darting off to roam the kitchen wall as soon as he met her gaze. "A little extra studying never hurt anyone." Junmyeon sighed internally but managed to suppress his outside emotions.

"There's always the autumn term anyway," his Dad said, before draining the last of his coffee cup. Junmyeon froze at the implication that _they're sending me away for school. Why are they sending me away?_ And suddenly he felt the need to go to the beach so badly, to see the stranger so badly, now that he was scared and uncertain and this foreign feeling only made him more confused, so that he lost his appetite completely, leaving his perfect Nutella-coated piece of toast on his plate and pretending that he'd made it for his Mom so that he could leave the table.

He managed to distract himself from the strange pull by focusing on maths and his science lesson and the proud smile his Mom gave him when he finished two days' worth of lessons in one morning made him happy, as he managed to relax his shoulders a little and take a deep breath. But sitting at the supper table, the fluorescent light stark on the wood surface and the white porcelain plates, the thought of going away to school in the fall rose up again in his throat and it felt so _wrong_ , even though if you'd asked him yesterday about it he probably would have been so happy to be leaving. _Or maybe not. I don't even know._

It didn't matter much either way, as soon as Junmyeon could hear the rhythmic breathing of his parents, deeply asleep in their room, he slipped out of bed, remembering to snag a pair of flip-flops on his way out the window, which he managed to slip out of without hurting himself at all. Either practice made perfect or he'd simply forgotten to be worried about it.

The flip-flops made annoying slapping sounds as they hit the soles of his feet as he tried to walk as quickly as possible down the beach road, and so much sand slid into between his feet and the rubber foam that the whole point was lost. His feet were dirty anyway so he kicked off the annoying things and left them in the sand to pick up on the way back.

He'd been afraid, somehow, without actually admitting it to himself, that the stranger wouldn't be there. Maybe Junmyeon had been dreaming, maybe everything had been an odd dream. _But my feet were dirty in the morning._ His heartbeat was still loud in his throat as he came around the last bend and stopped in his tracks.

The boy _was_ there. He was there, sitting in the sand and absent-mindedly tossing a seashell back and forth between his hands, facing the beach road as if he had been — _as if he's waiting for me_. Junmyeon stuffed the thought back behind his eyes as soon as he thought it; that wasn't possible at all and he was just going to disappoint himself if he insisted on thinking like that.

But just then the boy stood up, a wide smile stretching across his face as he stepped forward and exclaimed happily, "Junmyeon, I was waiting for you!"

And Junmyeon couldn't help it; he let himself believe everything.

 

_VII  
In which the beloved of the god of lightning becomes heavy with child_

 

_It was some time after their bonding that Chen began to notice a strange change in the omega. Suho, usually so soft yet lithe, with wide shoulders and yet a narrow, delicate frame, shoulder blades and hips standing against his milky skin, seemed softer yet than before, his face gentler, his eyes brighter, and a gentle swelling appeared in his belly. It was the koi fish who first confirmed it, those wise beings of infinite knowledge passed from generation to generation, land to sky: "the Suho is with child," they told Chen. Looking at Suho, he could see that they were right. Suho was overjoyed with the knowledge, a gentle half smile always gracing his face, his hand often resting lightly on the swelling of his belly as he went about his day, and when the first flutterings of the baby could be felt under the skin, he came to Chen and watched, tears in his eyes as Chen rested his hand against the firm softness and felt for the first time his child, wetness running down his face._

 

"Your parents let you come to the beach alone at night?" Junmyeon asked. They were sitting at the edge of the water, dipping their feet in the waves, laughing when a particularly adventurous wave crept further up the shoreline to soak their shorts.

"I travel a lot," Jongdae said, "it's allowed." The way he worded it was strange but Junmyeon shrugged.

"That's so cool," he said longingly. "I've always wanted to go somewhere, anywhere." He looked out at the night, at other shorelines he couldn't see across the moonlit water. He could feel Jongdae's gaze tracing his arm and it felt...empowering. _My parents can't control my life forever._

"Do you want me to tell you about it?" Jongdae's voice was soft, as though he wasn't sure whether Junmyeon wanted to hear about other places or whether it would make him sad. The brightness in his eyes dimmed a little...Junmyeon put his hand on the other boy's leg and smiled.

"Yes, I want to know." The answering smile on Jongdae's face was enough for him, as they looked out towards the ocean, stars still thick in the sky and plenty of time before dawn as Jongdae told him all about sunrise at the Taj Mahal, spring rain over the summer palace in Beijing, the mist at Iguazu falls, the Aurora Borealis painting the sky in Iqaluit. Junmyeon thought that he had never been happier in his life.

 

He didn't even feel bad about sneaking out every night by now. He was always careful to sneak out after his parents were sleeping, stuffing a row of pillows into his bed so that it looked like he was sleeping before dashing out to meet Jongdae on the beach. And if sometimes Jongdae looked at him with eyes that were dimmer than usual, or hung back a bit, or a shadow flickered over his face when they were talking about _something, nothing, everything_ , Junmyeon figured that that was probably a normal thing, right? He'd never had a friend before; he didn't really know. And no matter what Jongdae seemed to be feeling, Junmyeon always felt so incredibly safe that it didn't matter.

It had no connection to his strange dreams at all.

When his Mom started to comment that he was looking really tired all the time, that he was falling asleep during lessons and making more mistakes than usual, Junmyeon could honestly say that he wasn't sleeping well at all which was leaving him tired in the morning, because it was absolutely true. He wasn't sleeping well. Half the time he was floundering through dark nightmares, his body weighed down and heavy and nerve-shredding pain searing through his stomach over and over and over and over again until he woke up, not screaming, his mouth stuffed with sheet as if, even in sleep, he knew he had to be quiet and not wake his parents. They didn't need to know.

His other dreams were stranger. Nightmares he could understand, even if he couldn't figure out what these were about. But it was the other dreams, the ones where there was touching and softness and a strange feeling in his chest and -— he always woke up both warm and cold and somehow aching and it didn't go away until he could see Jongdae.

At first he'd just liked Jongdae because Jongdae was someone new, and interesting and different and, well, he was _someone_ at all. As far back as he could remember, Junmyeon had only ever had himself and his parents and his books and that was that. The fact that Jongdae was Jongdae at all was special enough.

But gradually, as the nights wore on, the weeks slid by and the month all too rapidly slipped away, days falling between his fingers like sand slipping out of his hands as he sat next to Jongdae on the beach and talked and laughed and their shoulders and arms and legs brushed, the warmth sending little flickers of energy down Junmyeon's spine, Junmyeon began to realize that he liked Jongdae because he was Jongdae.

"So where do you live?" he finally asked, the curiosity patent in his voice. He'd been wondering about it for a while but hadn't quite had the nerve to ask yet.

"Wouldn't you like to know." Jongdae only grinned, it was almost a smirk and even though the boy's illuminated eyes still took Junmyeon's breath away, he could look around them and pout at Jongdae, elbowing him in the ribs. 

"Yes I actually would," Junmyeon said firmly, digging his fingers into the sand between his legs to start shaping a hill to mold a sand castle out of. 

Jongdae's smile dimmed then, just a bit, and he turned to look at Junmyeon directly, their eyes locking. Junmyeon felt a little dizzy; Jongdae's eyes were so bright, and it felt like he was staring directly into his soul, trying to decide something important. _You can trust me_ , the thought appeared suddenly in Junmyeon's head and he hadn't thought about it before but now that he had, the words ached to be spoken.

"You can trust me," Junmyeon whispered. It sounded like a love confession, somehow, in the moonlight. Jongdae only nodded, his face still somehow serious, but he stood, pulling Junmyeon gently up along with him.

"Do you trust me?" he asked, his voice serious. Junmyeon only nodded and tangled his fingers more tightly with Jongdae's. _You make me feel so safe._

"We have to fly," Jongdae whispered in his ear, and before Junmyeon could ask exactly what he meant, there was a flash in the sky and the sound of far off thunder, somewhere over the water, as they rose into the air.

 

_VI  
In which the god of lightning forges a bond with his beloved_

 

_Although Suho was his given omega, his beloved, Chen still resolved to ensure that Suho was in agreement with anything that might arise and not be forced to capitulate due to any untoward pressures. However, when he posed the question, asking the omega to reflect upon the situation and inform him of the course of action he wished to pursue, Chen did not expect the omega to agree on the spot, parting his legs so sweetly, hands holding onto his thighs so that Chen might be given the chance to explore, tongue lapping gently at the slick as the omega arched gently into his mouth, soft moans begging. Seeing Suho in such a state, Chen could not resist the earnest invitation. First inserting an exploratory finger into the tight warmness, he moved it gently around, stretching the opening and making room for first one and then another finger as he scissored them gently, all the while pressing soft kisses to the skin of Suho's thighs, the creamy skin bearing such a delicious flavour while his fingers sparked, sending tiny bursts of current to the spongy bundle of nerves inside the omega, causing him to arch up into the air, his beautiful moans causing Chen the most exquisitely pleasurable pain as, himself aching, he removed his fingers, the omega complaining at the loss, only to sink, slowly and gently, deep inside his beloved. Patiently, he waited for Suho to become accustomed to the intrusion before moving, first gently and then, as the omega demanded it, more swiftly. Before they reached completion however, Chen suddenly and inexplicably felt the burning need, as he pressed kisses along the skin of Suho's neck, to let a small bolt of lightning escape from his mouth to sear into the omega's neck a symbol of their bond: a small scorpion made of lightning. With this, the pain and pleasure combined, they both reached completion, relaxing into each other's embrace._

 

Junmyeon knew he should be scared, after all they were _flying_! Except his hand was warm, wrapped in Jongdae's fingers. And with a sudden strange revelation, a kind of déjà vu almost, he knew that Jongdae would never _ever_ let him down. Not even the faint curling thunder and the distant sparks as lightning hit the dead tree on the promontory not so far from his house could shake the feeling.

The sky was mostly clear, stars arrayed before them, the cool summer night wind on his face as Jongdae steered him by the hand. His touch felt like electricity … Junmyeon shivered. They reached the level of hovering stratocumulus clouds, the misty coldness taking his breath away. His skin tingled. He couldn't see anything for a moment, nothing but white, but Jongdae's fingers squeezed gently around his hand and he knew it was alright.

"Don't worry," Jongdae's voice whispered through the misty opacity of the cumulus cloud. "It's okay." Junmyeon nodded, even though Jongdae couldn't see him he knew he understood.

And then they broke through the clouds and Junmyeon gasped. He'd never been anywhere, never seen anything, just his house and town with his Mom and maybe the city once or twice, if he could remember, and of course the beach, but somehow everything he'd ever seen in a book, heard on the radio, dreamed about on film ... he knew instinctively that nothing could ever compare to this. And somehow he felt proud, though he couldn't explain why. _Mine._

It was somehow like the Colosseum except present not past. It was like the Taj Mahal except life not death. It was the Arc de Triomphe except not confined to the heavy ground, cars trundling by. Fluffy clouds stretched out like lawn, cypress and fig trees in rows of terracotta pots contrasting with the green and brown, a long mirror-like pool of rainwater leading towards the gentle white marble of a dream, high domed roof with a spire pointing towards heaven, soft arches and curved and tiny intricate carvings of flowers and trees and all the beautiful things. Junmyeon didn't even know what to say.

"Do you like it?" Jongdae said shyly beside him, still holding his hand; their feet alighting on the marble walkway like solidified cloud stretching out before them. Junmyeon only nodded, turning to look into Jongdae's brilliant eyes, telling him everything he couldn't put into words.

Junmyeon was happy enough to wander around the garden, laughing in delight at the small pearly koi fish that swam in the water and looked up at him with recognition in his eyes; pluck kumquats from the kumquat trees and slip them into his mouth, citrus exploding on his tongue as his happiness filled him so completely it almost hurt. But just when he thought it couldn't be real, he had to only be dreaming, Jongdae would remind him with a gentle squeeze of the hand or a brush of skin against his bare arm that he was there, that it was _real_ , that Jongdae was happy too.

And somehow that was best of all.

They ended up on the front sweep of marble, the front garden framed by arches and pillars and stone lace, feet dangling over the side over the water. Junmyeon looked towards the open archway into the house, palace, _mine_ — he wasn't sure what to call it — but something told him _not yet_ and he didn't understand except he did. Sitting there, beside Jongdae, their faces mirrored as they looked down at the water that was like glass, disturbed only by tiny ripples as small white fish jumped up to say hello before slipping back beneath the surface.

Junmyeon wished that he never had to leave.

So when Jongdae stood up slowly, quietly taking his hand, Junmyeon went because he could see the faintly blushing skyline as the sun began to peek her golden head over the edge of the world, but it hurt his heart to leave.

_Soon._

 

_V  
In which the beloved of god of lightning goes into heat_

 

_Chen was at first worried about Suho, that the boy might be sad and lonely away from his family and human friends, so he endeavoured to lighten the strangeness by furnishing the sky palace as best he could with small delights — trees and fruit and small white koi fish who addressed the boy by name. "Suho," they called, "Suho, we welcome thee." The boy laughed and clapped his hands, overjoyed, and spent hours wandering through the gardens of cloud and trees, wandering along the marble walkways, exploring the archways and corridors and secret fountains and conversing with the koi fish who regaled him with mystical stories of their heavenly and earthly brethren._

_Chen was not sure when it began, when the boy began to come to him more hungrily for kisses, his body quivering with pleasure as Chen stroked and caressed his skin. But he noticed as a sweet rich smell began to surround the boy wherever he went, spiking in Chen's presence, a beautiful pink blush dusting the boy's cheeks as he looked away shyly and yet his body arched up into Chen's grasp, begging. And one day, the boy came to him, flushed and trembling, eyes aglow and reflecting his own as Suho begged for Chen to take him. Chen took him to the small alcove room he had prepared, not knowing that it would ultimately be used for this purpose, noticing the sweetest, most succulent slick leaking from between the boy's legs as he took him into his mouth, rejoicing greatly in the boy's soft sighs and gentle moans._

_As the boy's back arched, muscles tightening and then relaxing as he reached completion, Chen ducked lower to explore the sweetness, his fingers prodding ever so gently at the soft pucker of skin as he was assailed with the most heady of scents; the boy's natural perfume was sending trails of fire directly to his own groin as his fingers tingled with this sudden proof of the boy's maturity._

_"Thou shalt be granted an omega to your alpha," the god of the wind had said, and Chen finally understood._

 

Junmyeon had honestly forgotten about his parent's upcoming plans for autumn. He and Jongdae, Jongdae and he. His entire summer was encapsulated in the beach and the night and the sky and a warm hand in his. The smell of ozone. Lightning across the water, thunder in the distance.

 _What is love?_ he thought, skin touching skin, the sand warm beneath his thighs. _Do I love you?_ he didn't ask, catching Jongdae looking at him from the corner of his eye. They laughed instead, building sand castles that the waves would only wash away.

"Why are we doing this again?" Jongdae complained as they embarked on the biggest sand palace yet. Junmyeon ignored him, carefully sculpting wet sand and he would never admit it but he was trying to duplicate the sky palace. Jongdae hadn't taken him there again yet, and Junmyeon didn't ask. _Soon._

"Because you like me," Junmyeon replied, pouting at Jongdae who pulled a face at him before throwing a handful of sand, the grains exploding out into a rain of sharp stings as they fell on Junmyeon's face. "Ouch." Jongdae apologized by making it the best sand palace yet, while Junmyeon had to stop once or twice to rub his face on the sleeve of his t-shirt. _Why do I feel so warm? Why do you smell so good?_

Ever since the visit to Jongdae's sky house, Junmyeon had begun noticing something strange. His nightmares were still the same, but the dreams after, the ones about _skin_...those were different. Brighter. More vivid. And it wasn't just the dreams.

"Did you always smell this good?" Junmyeon said innocently, leaning his head against Jongdae's shoulder as they sat, curled up in the swells of sand, fingers mingling. He nosed at Jongdae's neck, the rich warmness of jasmine and citrus in bergamot mixed with something sharper. Ozone. Jongdae stiffened, pulled away slightly. Junmyeon looked up at him in confusion.

"Is something wrong?" he asked. Jongdae shook his head gently, his fingers reaching out to trail lines of electricity along the skin of Junmyeon's forearms, but the dimness of his eyes spoke differently.

Junmyeon leaned forward slightly, concern rippling his brow. "Are you okay?" Jongdae hesitated for a moment, opened his mouth — there was a not-so distant crack of lightning, the roll of thunder and Junmyeon started, just a little.

"Race you to the water," Jongdae said suddenly, leaping up, his voice too loud in the pre-storm silence. The air hung heavy with the questions Junmyeon didn't know to ask, but then Jongdae laughed as Junmyeon tripped scrambling up off the sand, and the moment passed, along with the burst of jasmine and bergamot.

Junmyeon had honestly forgotten about his parent's plans, but they had not.

 

_IV  
In which the god of lightning participates in the "spiriting away"_

 

_Chen may have resolved not to participate in the kamikakushi, the spiriting away, and yet it came about that suspicion was cast upon his identity and presence and he was forced to leave, a heartbroken Suho weeping over his sudden disappearance. Chen could not bear the image of his weeping omega, so bereft and lonely, confused at the sudden turn of events and barely more than a child, and so he resolved to break his personal promise, appearing to the boy at night as he was sleeping. He roused the boy with a gentle shake, hoping not to startle him, but was surprised when, instead of fear, he was greeted with a great rushing embrace, tears wetting his shoulder as the boy clung to him and wept, begging to be taken away. And so it was with great sadness and yet acceptance that Chen took Suho with him away to his palace in the sky, another victim of the kamikakushi for the village gossips to whisper about and frighten naughty children._

 

"So are you all excited about leaving for your new school?" his Mom asked as they were sitting down to supper, Junmyeon tired as usual. But he was strangely functional despite only really catching a couple hours of sleep each night, only sparingly incremented by the light dozes he was more and more often drifting into when he was supposed to be studying.

He snapped his head up now though, suddenly, painfully awake.

"School?" The word cut into his mouth, sharp angles and slippery slopes and distances far too great to be bridged by summer beaches and slender fingers. His reflection in the mirror of a dark window, casting back the light, looked pale and shocked, the puffy bags under his eyes from lack of sleep thrown into elaborate relief against the night.

"Boarding school," his Dad said, looking over at him curiously. "We already discussed this." He took another forkful of salad, lettuce crunching between his teeth like a poor imitation of thunder in the distance. Junmyeon frowned.

"But...what if I don't want to go anymore?" he asked tentatively, feeling his way through the conversation, fingers working through sand for the first time. _Don't take me away!_

There was a sudden silence, a collective breath before the wrong kind of storm. His Mom set her fork down on the plate, the sound ringing out harshly.

"It's not up for discussion," she said firmly, the words sinking like stones in Junmyeon's stomach. _No. This can't be happening to me._ His skin felt stretched, thin, his nerves on edge. He couldn't swallow, the heavy mashed potatoes sitting in his mouth like sand.

"We're leaving in three days," his Dad concluded, resuming his chewing, the sound of teeth cutting through lettuce not unlike fingernails on a chalkboard, the sound of waves grinding bones against the shore.

Junmyeon felt numb.

"They can't do this to me, they can't!" he cried into Jongdae's shoulder on the beach, lightning streaking through the sky, thunder rumbling ominously overhead. "I don't want to go!"

"You're only sixteen," Jongdae reminded him, his hand making comforting rubbing motions across his back, but Junmyeon only lifted his head to stare deep into the sad dullness of the other boy's gaze.

"So are you!" he said, almost shouting as he railed against the unfairness of it all. "So are you!" He felt both hot and cold, like he was coming down with a fever or waking up from a nightmare, he couldn't tell and he didn't care and it smelled so much like jasmine and bergamot and he dug his face into the hollow of Jongdae's neck and refused to let go. _Don't make me go._

The smell only got stronger and stronger, sparks jumping from Jongdae's fingers as he ran them comfortingly across Junmyeon's back, even his bones were buzzing and his head was a cloud of white. _Not yet._

"Could I go with you?" he whispered into Jongdae's skin. "Could I please go with you? He thought about the palace in the sky, the things he hadn't asked yet. _Soon._ Déjà vu. The sharpness of ozone. Jongdae pulled away, the smell fading, his bones settling into silence.

"Do you really mean that?" he asked, biting his lip. His eyes flashed, conflicted. "What about your parents?" His hands on Junmyeon, tingling through the thin cotton of his shirt, slowed, halted. Junmyeon was about to exclaim, _I don't want them anymore!_ but something, some half-formed memory, closed his mouth as he ran his gaze over Jongdae's face, the bridge of his nose, the hollow above his lip, the cut of his jaw. His eyes, trying to answer question Junmyeon didn't have the questions for yet. _Soon._

"This is something I need to do," he said finally, deliberately, and the words felt right, slipping out of his mouth, hovering in the air between them. "This is what's right for me." Jongdae nodded quietly, and then smiled. Junmyeon's heart felt light again. The sky was clear, only the stars lighting the night.

"Meet me tomorrow night?" Jongdae asked.

"Yes," Junmyeon answered, and it felt like the answer to a question that hadn't been voiced yet. "Yes."

 

_III  
In which the god of lightning encounters his beloved_

 

_Now Chen wondered greatly how he should be made aware of the coming of his beloved into the world, but there came a time when the currents of the air and the thickening of the air as if for a summer storm announced themselves to him. And thus he took the form of his 16 year old self, the form in which he had last been human, and went down among the people of the village. It was here that he first heard of the kamikakushi, the spiriting away, and his heart was much troubled at the thought that he might also be the cause of this phenomena which was very much the topic of conversation on the streets. In fact, it was said, the god of the wind had recently taken the daughter of the emperor who was very much distressed at the turn of events and yet could do nothing. And it was well known that the goddess of spring found it very pleasing to take young men from their nightly beds and secret them away to her forest boudoir, never to return. And yet, when he came across the boy, a mere 16 years of age, he knew that he was the one._

_The boy was not frightened of him, nor surprised by the fact that Chen was male, a fact which had surprised him greatly at first and yet the sweet smell of the human was unmistakable, it was then that Chen began to understand what the god of the wind had meant. The boy had a different name but Chen decided to call him Suho, protector, for he shall be the guardian of my heart, he thought. He courted him quietly, taking him on long moonlit walks on the beach, accompanying him to work on the fishing nets and also to sell the catch in the village market, for Suho had not yet reached maturity, a fact which Chen could smell on his skin, sense with his fingers, taste with the soft kisses he laid on the boy's mouth._

 

Junmyeon couldn't focus on his studies all day. There was a twitching, nervous energy hovering under his skin, a sort of hovering smell that wasn't really there. He knew his mom was eyeing him strangely, he knew we was acting all wrong if he wanted to pretend that nothing was the matter and yet he couldn't help it, working his fingers fitfully through the fabric of his pants, his toes curling. Everything felt wrong and he was so warm and he couldn't understand himself at all, but all he cared about was nightfall and leaving and being with Jongdae forever. _Soon._ He dozed, dreaming of skin on skin, something warm in his mouth, someone touching him — he awoke, disoriented, a confusing heat in his pants that he tried touching but nothing helped.

"Are you alright?" his mom finally asked, concern showing in the the way she furrowed her brow and yet there was something in her eyes...he was the answer to the question he hadn't known she had asked. He nodded, opening his mouth but closing it again because he didn't know what to say. She left instead; Junmyeon could hear her talking to his dad in the other room, voices rising and falling but he could only hear distant thunder, taste ozone on his tongue, he tried stuffing his fingers in his mouth and biting down and the sharp pain helped him think. _What's wrong with me?_ The strangeness felt so familiar, a lost memory partially recovered from someone's else's life. _Soon._

Junmyeon wasn't sure how he made it through supper, his stomach twisting in his belly as he played with his fork, pushed the peas around on the the white porcelain plate, crossed his legs to hide his discomfort. His parents talked about packing tomorrow and setting out bright and early the morning after that, and wasn't he excited to finally see some of the world? Junmyeon only nodded when the tone rose, let his chin sink when the tone fell, pushed his food around and curled his toes in his socks. The air felt thick. He almost cried in relief when his parents sent him to bed for looking unwell.

"It must be the last minute excitement," his mom said to his dad, nodding sagely as Junmyeon turned his back on them and retreated to his bedroom. He couldn't hear if his dad responded, closing the door with a dull thud that reverberated through his bones before he found the backpack buried under his bed, the bright red and green fabric reminding him of a time when he'd longed so much to leave the house, go to school, do anything, that he'd asked for a backpack that he'd never had any occasion to use. _Now I only want to stay._

He was too shaky by now to do more than gather up a couple changes of clothing to stuff into the bag, a fine trembling had set into his bones and he felt like he was going to be sick except somehow he also felt...good? It was all too much, this strange expectancy hovering around his body, he let his backpack fall to the floor and slipped into his sleep shorts and t-shirt, the contact of his fingers against his bare skin almost causing him to collapse. _What's wrong with me?_ Junmyeon let himself fall onto the bed instead, waiting for his parents to fall asleep, twitching as his limbs wanted nothing more than to pick up his bag and leap out the window, only fear of being caught holding him back.

When he couldn't wait any longer, when he was sure that his parents had to be sleeping by now _or I just don't care_ he slipped out from between the sheets, slung his bag over one arm and vaulted himself out the window and into the night.

Only to see his parents waiting, backs to the night, faces to his window, their faces set.

 

_II  
In which the god of lightning begs a wish_

 

_"But my lord," Chen beseeched, "if it pleases thee, may I also have a companion that I not be fated to live forever alone in the sky, separated from my family? For I am by no means ungrateful for thy merciful gift and yet it seems to me a very lonely existence to live forever alone." His eyes as he spoke were sad, the light of the storm newly instilled in him already dimming._

_The god of the wind considered his entreaty carefully, weighing it against the threads of fate in the world tapestry, and finally came to a conclusion which, though merciful, was yet not completely benevolent._

_"Thus it must be," he thought to himself sadly, "lest the balance of things be tipped out of order." But it was with undisguised sadness that he made known to Chen his destiny._

 

_"There is a family in the village which has found particular favour with us," he proclaimed. "Out of this family there shall come about, once a century, the birth of a special person for thee, an omega to thy alpha, to whom thou shalt bond and cleave, and who shall be thy beloved."_

_Seeing the joy on the boy's face, the god of the wind could not bring himself to inform him of the other side of the coin, the payment for the gift, the balance._

 

"Where exactly do you think you're going?" his mom asked, and she didn't sound happy at all, like she already knew the answer.

"I..." Junmyeon didn't know what to say, how to fix it, the fear was bubbling up in his throat and blocking out the words.

"We're leaving," his dad said, stepping forward as Junmyeon shrank back into the shadow of the house, but his dad only took the backpack out of his limp fingers and put it into the trunk of the car, his footfalls crunching on the gravel. Junmyeon's fingers felt empty; he closed them on air.

"No..." he tried to say but his mother only took him firmly by the arm, leading him toward the back door of the car, opening it to push him gently into the back seat; he was so shocked, his head so numb, he followed along as if in a dream, _a nightmare_ , his thoughts skittering about a half-minute behind. He only realized his predicament when the car started, the smell of exhaust sharp in his nose, _not the right smell_ ; he tried to open the door but it wouldn't open.

"Junmyeon," his mother said, turning back to look over her shoulder as she backed the car out of the driveway to turn onto the road, "stop it. We're not letting this go."

"Where did you think you were going anyway?" his father asked, but the tone of his voice made it sound like he knew the answer. Junmyeon only looked away, out the window, staring at the dark. There were no stars.

Faint tendrils of mist appeared on the highway, Junmyeon only barely noticing them as his skin began to buzz, the numbness in his fingers spreading to his hands as he clung to the leather seat, his body burning up and shivering at the same time.

"Please," he begged, but no one was listening, both parents’ shoulders set in angry lines, their gazes straight ahead, away from the house and the beach and the water lapping the shore. "Please..."

His ears were buzzing now, the mist curling whiter and thicker as it swirled to obstruct the road and his mom swore under her breath. Faint sounds of thunder rumbled overhead.

"Where did this weather come from?" he could hear his dad asking in displeased surprise, the faint light flickering as he checked the forecast on his phone. "It doesn't say anything about this."

 _Jongdae?_ Junmyeon didn't think, his fingers limp against the seat, falling sideways, the breath scratching through his throat as his nostrils flared and he opened his mouth in gasp, spine stiffening as he arched his back, the heat centred around his torso almost pain. Lightning flashed through the mist and it began to rain, the heavens bursting open as water fell down in torrents, crashing against the metal and glass of the car as his parents swore. His mom skidded to a halt, the car swerving as it aquaplaned before stopping at the edge of the road, but Junmyeon didn't care — the incredible heat clutching around his throat and constricting his chest, burning through his veins and centring around his groin. He couldn't breathe, gasping, working his mouth open, lips fluttering, feeble hands opening and closing, tongue tapping the backs of his teeth. _Jongdae!_

There were finally stars in his vision, everything going to spots; he felt so light and yet so heavy and everything was on fire.

There was a sudden crash of thunder overhead, lightning splitting the air apart as the car door flew open, metal groaning as the hinges detached with a sharp squeal of metal.

Junmyeon looked up through the tears in his eyes, throat closed, slumped on the back seat.

"Jongdae?" his eyes asked, when his mouth couldn't.

 

_I  
In which the god of lightning comes to be_

 

_A long time ago there lived in a small village on the coast a young boy of about 15 years of age. Jongdae, as the boy was called, was a hard-working, industrious boy, always meticulous as he cleaned and mended the fishing nets of his father and uncles' fishing boats, helpful to his mother and sisters in their work about the house and yard, respectful towards his elders and obedient to his parents. He longed for nothing more than to follow in his father's footsteps and so finally, on his 16th birthday, it pleased his father to allow Jongdae to accompany him on his first fishing trip._

_However, it so came about that on that very day a sudden storm blew up out of the north, with much rain and wind and though Jongdae and his father and uncles were calm and collected throughout the ordeal that went on long into the night. They bailed the water from the boat, hauling in their nets and keeping the prow perpendicular to the waves; a sudden strike of lightning fell down from the heavens, tearing the sky asunder and setting the boat ablaze. Jongdae was cast by his father overboard in a small coracle so that he might survive, even though he protested most obstinately against the measure and even attempted to row back to the boat, but it was all in vain as his father and uncles were lost as they sank beneath the surface._

_Jongdae in the small coracle was now very much terrified as the small contraption was by now means meant for the heavy winds and high waves of an ocean storm, as as a particularly tall wall crashed over him, tearing him from the coracle and smashing the delicate thing into a thousand pieces, the prayers of Jongdae as his lungs were filled with water and he sank to the bottom of the ocean, as well as his father and uncles before they had been lost, reached the god of the wind who took pity on the boy's plight. He could not restore the boy to life, however he raised him up from the dark depths to be the god of thunder and lightning._

_"Thou shalt hereafter be known as Chen and dwell in the sky palace I have vacated for thee," the god of the wind proclaimed._

 

It was Jongdae and yet it wasn't and Junmyeon wasn't sure if it was a dream or not, his Mom screaming, his Dad shouting, it sounded like they were telling Jongdae that he couldn't have him, him being _me?_ and Junmyeon didn't understand, his head was fuzzy, everything going white and it hurt and the wind was blowing rain into the car to land on his face and his Mom was calling his friend Chen?

And then there was the loudest crash of thunder yet, the car buzzing electrified as Jongdae stood out in shocking relief in the sudden flash of light, it _was_ him and yet he was so much _more_ , both the 16-year-old boy Junmyeon knew and yet so much older and taller and his face was stark, harsh in the cut of his cheekbones, his eyes blazing with an infinity of storms and pain and yet his mouth was still soft, his lips still full, the special smile still hovering in the corner of his mouth.

"He is mine!" Jongdae who wasn't Jongdae said, _Chen said_ ; Junmyeon's parents didn't say anything.Junmyeon felt everything going white and then he was in Jongdae's arms and the proportions were all wrong and yet the feeling was exactly right, jasmine and bergamot and Jongdae's mouth folded around his in the softest of kisses, _my first kiss_ , and his mouth opened in a sudden gasp and he could breath again, Jongdae's shoulders that were a little too wide sheltering him against his chest away from the rain as they soared into the sky, cool tendrils of wind twisted around to gently explore Junmyeon's face.

As they rose higher and higher, the storm falling away to leave an expectant silence, Junmyeon began to be aware of the fact that, since he could now breathe again, he could also smell, and the sweetness of jasmine, the citrus of bergamot, the sharpness of ozone twisted around and around to create a heady rush, his head spinning with the vividness of it all, _now!_ as his fingers, no longer numb and cold, tingled with warmth, the burning pain in his chest and groin softening to a warm glow, not unbearable and yet growing stronger the longer he nestled in Jongdae's arms, breathed in his smell, touched skin against skin. He gasped, for different reasons, and Jongdae leaned over to breathe into his ear, "almost there," the soft words sending currents of electricity spiralling around his skin, reaching down into his body to electrify his bones. Junmyeon moaned, slightly, and was surprised at the sound, a fine pink dusting his cheeks as he couldn't help but work his fingers closer into the fabric of Jongdae's shirt, his body throbbing, lips parted. _Please._

Everything went white for a moment as they passed through the cumulus cloud and then they were surrounded by stars, the white marble of the palace glowing in the moonlight. Jongdae alighted on the front sweep, stars reflected in the water of pool behind them, the white koi fish leaping up gently to send Junmyeon their greetings. _We welcome you._

Junmyeon let a single finger trail along the skin of Jongdae's forearm before slipping out of his embrace with a shaky sigh, bare feet cold on the marble floor, helping to ground him, fingers still tightly wound around Jongdae's. Jongdae, who, when Junmyeon glanced over to look, to wonder at the boy he thought he knew, the boy who he trusted completely and yet had just realized he knew nothing about, was 16 again. But now that Junmyeon knew, could remember a shape bigger than life, eyes brighter than storms, the power of a voice like thunder, he could see the air twisting in strange shapes, hovering over Jongdae's skin, sparking in his gaze.

Jongdae looked at him and his bright eyes were sad. Junmyeon looked at him and smiled, lifting his other hand to gently touch the soft skin of Jongdae's cheek with his finger tips. Electric current like lightning jumped between them.

"Why are you sad?" Jumyeon asked, his head was filled with jasmine, bergamot on his tongue and he needed to _touch_ but he needed to make sure Jongdae was okay.

"It's nothing," Jongdae smiled, the corners of him mouth crumpling up into a smile but his eyes still shone with memories of something else, as he squeezed his fingers gently around Junmyeon's hand — Junmyeon wanted to ask but he couldn't think, lines of current radiating up his arm and he let Jongdae lead him across the threshold. _Now._

It was shadowy but not dark open arches along long corridors and courtyards opening up to secret fountains and tucked away alcoves of moonlight and Junmyeon wanted to stop and see everything but more than that, right now he needed to follow Jongdae, his body buzzing with the anticipation of something he didn't know but he _remembered_ , the tangible memories of skin and lips and lines like fire as his heart skipped a beat and he swayed slightly against Jongdae's side as they made their way through the invisible clouds of memory that he could almost taste, _now, now, now_ and everything remembered his name. _The Suho has returned._

But Jongdae only led him further until they reached a small room, white with glowing marble, three small square windows set in three walls curved around a white pool of clear water which cradled a reflection of the moon. There was a bronze vase of carmine rose petals, overflowing into the water.

 _I remember._ This had happened so many times, _my first heat_ , yet not to him, not _now_ but the _now_ in his memories had arrived, the answer to a question he hadn't remembered to ask, but now everything was so clear, jasmine and bergamot filling the room as Junmyeon stepped into the water, drawing Jongdae with him, Jongdae who was a god, an alpha, but also a boy, a 16 year old child who always lost the one he loved.

"I promise I won't die," Junmyeon whispered into Jongdae's skin, his skin running with electricity as Jongdae traced his hips through the thin fabric of his sleep shorts.

"How can you be so sure?" Jongdae asked, and he was Chen but mostly Jongdae right now, the boy who asked for a wish and got what he wanted but also a broken heart.

"Because I'm Suho, your omega, born over and over again every century but I'm also Junmyeon, also me, and Junmyeon is promising you this." He pulled Jongdae closer, the water moving in smooth ripples like memories waking up and blooming into the air, pulled the god's head down so that his mouth touched Junmyeon's collarbones. "Please," Junmyeon whispered, the soft contact setting him aglow, the water buzzing with electricity as Jongdae finally kissed the sharpness of Junmyeon's clavicles, smooth bone under soft skin. There was a bright searing glow and his skin burned for just a moment, the smell of ozone in the air, and when Jongdae lifted his head, a mark remained behind, lightning in the shape of a small white [scorpion](http://4e7221.medialib.glogster.com/media/4f838894abd00973972c5f59df224f755871a24cf0245bb3ad90037f634ec2a6/exo-m-chen-lightning-logo-by-jinsuke04-d4yh5r8.png). Junmyeon's knees collapsed as he sank into the water — everything was glowing and yet he needed more. "More, please," he asked, whispering into Jongdae's chest as he held the omega up to keep him from slipping below the surface. _I love you._

 _I love you_ , Jongdae replied with his lips, trailing lips and kisses up Junmyeon's neck, leaving another mark tucked at the soft nape before ducking down to mark the ridges of his shoulder, trailing his mouth along Junmyeon's chest, warm hands divesting him of his thin shirt before his mouth left another mark, hovering just over the protruding bone of Junmyeon's hip, who gasped, arching his back. The glow coalesced, finally, Jongdae gently removing Junmyeon's shorts, sliding them gently over the smooth skin of his thighs before letting them drift down, Junmyeon's head resting on the cool marble as Jongdae reached his hand between Junmyeon's legs, using his legs to nudge the knees apart as he gently took Junmyeon's cock into his hand from where it was curving up gently towards his stomach, the tingling of his fingers building into shockwaves for Junmyeon who couldn't help but moan softly, hands empty as his fingers worked at nothing. Jongdae smoothed his fingers over the velvety surface, his hand trailing ripples through the water as he bent down to take Junmyeon into his mouth, running his tongue around the head and along the length, reducing Junmyeon to a quivering mess as pulses of current ran through his veins, pierced flesh, reached deep inside to stimulate nerve centres that Junmyeon didn't even know he had, his racing heartbeat accompanied by a warm throbbing deep inside as Jongdae continued to stroke and caress his cock, trailing fingers down to the wet slickness trickling out lower down to seep into the water, running his fingers around the puckering skin but only letting the current run inside — "please," Junmyeon mouthed but Jondgae only shook his head as his mouth swallowed Junmyeon down warmly, deeply, throat twitching around Junmyeon's cock as the current sparked through his prostate one last time before he was coming in a long line as Jongdae swallowed thickly before pulling away, Junmyeon's limbs completely boneless as he floated on the water. The urgency faded but the warm glow remained, the four small marks seared into his skin weren't enough, _weren't a bond_ , but they would do for now. _Until you take me all the way._

Jongdae leaned forward to kiss him then; Junmyeon could taste jasmine, bergamot, and something else — _me_.

"I love you," Junmyeon said, when Jongdae parted their mouths briefly.

"I love you more," Jongdae replied, before ducking down for another go as their lips joined together in the sweetest of promises.

 _This is just the beginning_.

 

  
a sequel is perhaps possible, to complete the story

**Author's Note:**

>  **Additional Notes:** Thanks so much to Adele for everything. To that person, no I'm not going to sleep. :P  
>  The unofficial soundtrack to this song is Zola Blood's [Meridian](https://soundcloud.com/zola-blood/meridian) EP. The inspiration for the room with the three windows and the bath is [this hotel bathroom](http://www.travelplusstyle.com/wp-content/gallery/devi-garh-udaipur/thumbs/thumbs_devi-garh-palace_suite_bathroom.jpg). The sky palace was only very slightly inspired by [this photo manipulation](http://cdn.desktopwallpapers4.me/wallpapers/world/2880x1800/2/15417-taj-mahal-2880x1800-world-wallpaper.jpg).


End file.
